


A Desert Flower

by bye_pine_bye



Series: Brave Enough Or Not? [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Flirting, Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, M/M, Senator Anakin Skywalker, They are confused but they got the spirit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 05:00:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30100671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bye_pine_bye/pseuds/bye_pine_bye
Summary: Obi-Wan looks forward to meeting Senator Skywalker again but gets stood up by the politician - or at least, that's what he thinks...
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi/Anakin Skywalker
Series: Brave Enough Or Not? [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2214852
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	A Desert Flower

Obi-Wan told himself that he only attended a second casual get-together with a bunch of politicians within a few weeks because he wanted to support Padmé. A certain new senator sending him a note that he would love to see the Jedi at said meeting had nothing to do with it. Besides, he was only mad about having a bad hair day because he felt uncomfortable looking like that. 

Finally, at the event, he hadn't left his friend's side for at least two hours and had played nice with everyone. After having held small talk with nearly every politician in this room, he could eventually retire at the bar. He chose the exact same spot as last time - which was totally by accident. And then he waited and drank and waited and drank and waited some more. Padmé came by a few times to check if he was doing alright, which was sweet but also unnecessary because Obi-Wan clearly had the time of his life. 

Nevertheless, he let another 90 minutes pass before he decided to leave. The Jedi tried to convince himself that he wasn't disappointed or to put it another way, he tried not to be disappointed. Obi-Wan scolded himself for giving in to this absurd fantasy of a romance - with a  _ politician _ of all people. When he turned around swiftly to go back to the temple, he bumped into a vaguely familiar shape. 

"There you are. I am so glad that you could make it."

There was something about Anakin’s happy smile that at the same time warmed his heart and made him slightly angry. How could the other man act like he hadn’t stood him up for several hours? Obi-Wan just really wasn’t in the mood for this anymore.

“I was just leaving, actually”, he said coldly while he squeezed himself past the senator in front of him.

Of course, Anakin couldn’t just let him go in peace. No, he had to follow the Jedi who made his way through the crowd.

“But we didn’t have time to talk.”

“Maybe you should have been earlier if you wanted to talk, Senator Skywalker.”

Obi-Wan tried not to look at him, but the other man managed again to get in front of him. Following this, he had to slow down or else he would have collided with Anakin - running over a senator wouldn’t be a good look for a Jedi Master. So their eyes crossed and his counterpart seemed truly confused at the whole situation.

“But I sent R2. He should have brought you a message that I would be late.”

Anakin’s voice had become fainter with every word he had spoken as if his thoughts had been trailing off. Obi-Wan didn’t get a chance to comment on the matter at hand because his counterpart blurted out: “He must be lost. Maybe he didn’t take the landing well after all.”

Before the Jedi could protest, the senator took his hand and dragged him along. Apparently, they were now searching for the droid together. It wasn’t like Obi-Wan didn’t want to try to get out of this situation, but he couldn’t make a scene either. Perhaps, there was also a little part of him that wanted to know what would happen next.

“Would you care to explain to me what exactly we are doing, Senator Skywalker?”

“You should really call me  _ Anakin _ , you know.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Obi-Wan could see the smug expression on the younger man’s face. He was again torn between being bewitched and wanting to throw hands.

“That would be highly inappropriate, Senator Skywalker.”

Under other circumstances, he definitely wouldn’t insist on this kind of decorum. However, Anakin still owed him an explanation, and handsome face or not, he would give him a hard time until the other one had proven himself.

“Didn’t you call me  _ dear _ last time?”

He wasn’t surprised that a senator would remember the exact words he had used. Nevertheless, the Jedi decided to bluff: “I can’t recall doing that.”

Anakin huffed at that, but eventually let it slide - Obi-Wan counted that as a win for himself. However, the realization hit him that the other one still held his wrist in a firm grip. Now would be a good moment to actually free himself from the senator. They had entered one of the many corridors of the building and nobody was within sight. Despite this, the Jedi hesitated - all in all, this wasn’t a really uncomfortable position, and why should he upset the other one even more by doing that?

“I still owe you an explanation, I suppose.”

Obi-Wan had to look perplexedly at the man next to him. That turn of their conversation had come without any warning and he wasn’t sure how Anakin had come to this conclusion - just because he had thought that himself, didn’t mean that he had expected the other one to really give him an explanation.

“Don’t you want an explanation of why I would let you wait this long, although I was so eager to see you again?”, he asked his rhetorical question with a gentle voice.

The Jedi could feel his heart flutter in his chest because of the tenderness in these words. While realizing that he slowly but steadily began to become soft for Anakin again, another thought hit him right in the gut: This could never work out - this was, in fact, a fantasy. So he prepared himself to give the younger one the cold shoulder again.

“I am not sure if you owe me any explanations or excuses for your whereabouts, Senator Skywalker”, Obi-Wan replied stiffly.

He had expected that the politician would be disappointed because of this rather formal response. Surprisingly, it seemed like Anakin had adapted to the situation.

“I want to explain it to you anyway.”

“I guess I can’t stop you from doing that then.”

The Jedi recognized the self-satisfied grin on the lips of his counterpart. With all his willpower, he bit back his own smile.

“I was rather spontaneously sent on a diplomatic mission. And well, there were some complications. I was already late and our ship had a malfunction. Obviously, I flew myself.”

Obi-Wan thought to himself that he had already heard a lot about the questionable flying skills of the other one. There were even some rumours that he had been a podracer on Tatooine. Of course, he wouldn’t say any of these things out loud because he didn’t want to give Anakin the satisfaction of knowing that he actually held on to every little bit of information he could get on the other man.

“Anyway, we had a bit of a rough landing because I was a little impatient and I am worried that this is the cause of R2’s malfunction.”

After the explanation, Obi-Wan was actually a bit lost. He didn’t fully understand the purpose of these words. It was obviously nice that the senator wanted to explain himself, but for some reason, he had thought that there would be some kind of punchline in all of this.

“So that’s why you use an R2 unit instead of an R3 unit? For the flying?”

He had wondered about this ever since Anakin had mentioned his droids for the first time. Under normal circumstances, an R3 unit that can save much more data than the R2 units would be more suitable for a member of the senate.

“Yeah, that’s definitely one of the reasons. But R2 actually saved my life many times and I am pretty sure I wouldn’t be here without him.”

“Oh, I heard all about your reckless manoeuvers I can assure you”, Obi-Wan commented without thinking twice.

“Listening to gossip about a senator? Isn’t that highly inappropriate, Master Kenobi?”, Anakin asked amused.

Before he could reply that he actually heard about this issue during a briefing about Senator Skywalker because it was very likely that he would need Jedi protection in the future, they passed an open door. Interestingly enough, a lonely droid occupied the room.

“R2!”

Anakin kneeled down next to his R2 unit to check if everything was alright. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan followed him hesitantly - he felt like an intruder witnessing the reunion. To avoid staring at the two, the Jedi let his eyes scan the room they had just entered. It seemed weirdly cosy with two chairs and refreshments on a little table. The realization hit him so fast that he didn’t think further before he started speaking: “Did you set this up to get me to a private location?”

He sounded more upset than he felt - actually, Obi-Wan hadn't fully decided how he felt about this whole situation. But ready or not he had to deal with it. 

"What? No!" 

Considering the confused and shocked look on Anakin's face, he was willing to believe him. However, the other man was still a politician and therefore could be a really good actor. It didn't help his case that the Droid beeped and the senator blushed. 

"What did he say?", the Jedi asked firmly. 

To his own surprise, his question was answered by a mechanical voice behind him: "R2 said that he only wanted to assist Master Skywalker because he had wished so desperately to be alone with you, Master Jedi."

While the protocol droid had been speaking, Obi-Wan had turned around to face him. After he had overcome the first shock, he tried not to grin self-satisfied - the younger man really had wished to spend time alone with him. He was so happy that he didn’t even protest when the golden droid handed him a tray with hors-d'oeuvre. 

Following this, Obi-Wan took his time by turning back just to savour the moment. He wasn't disappointed by Anakin who opened and closed his mouth without actually saying anything. It was a little refreshing to see the other man struggling to find a comeback. Unfortunately, this state didn't last as long as he had wished for. 

"Did you know that normally when people assume stuff about the behaviour of others they base that assumption on what they would do in the same situation?" 

Not only had Anakin found his way to a response, it was on top of that also a good one. However, Obi-Wan wouldn't let him get away with this. 

"What are you implying? I would never manipulate a Senator of the Republic to accompany me to a second location without revealing my true intentions!", he insisted. 

Unfortunately, the grin on the younger man's face looked dangerous and the Jedi braced for impact. Of course, he was also in attack mode and therefore, Anakin's comeback was actually perfect to start another discussion as a distraction. 

"Well, Padmé said--" 

"Oh, you are on first-name basis with Senator Amidala, too. So that's a normal thing for you."

Obi-Wan felt rather triumphantly until he realized how crushed his counterpart looked. Obviously, he had wanted to win the argument but not by hurting Anakin's feelings. This whole situation was just so messed up that he got completely caught up in the heat of the moment. He actually didn't really know what he wanted out of this. 

"No, of course not! You drive me crazy", the politician paused to ruffle his own hair, "why are you like this? I thought you would know me better by now."

The last sentence caught the Jedi off guard - what did he mean by that? 

"I would hardly say that I know you, Senator Skywalker. I mean we talked once and then you sent me three notes. That's--" 

"Then get to know me! Please!" 

As soon as he heard the desperation in the younger one’s voice, he felt far too soft again. This whole conversation was like being in a ship without gravity - the Jedi got swirled around time and time again.

“I can’t just stay away without telling Senator Amidala”, was Obi-Wan’s try at a weak excuse.

“I am sure my droids can take care of that”, was Anakin’s quick reply.

He sighed in response but sat down anyway while definitely questioning the soundness of his mind. To his own surprise, it actually didn't bother him that the politician didn't seem surprised at all by his actions. 

"We are here now, so we might as well use the opportunity", the Jedi commented sincerely. 

The huge grin on Anakin’s face when he finally took his place next to him made Obi-Wan’s heart skip a beat. He probably should keep up his act of not caring about the younger man, but he just didn't have it in him. 

"So let me ask right away: Were or weren't you a podracer… Anakin?" 

* * *

When Obi-Wan came back to his quarters this time much later than the last, there was again a note for him. He didn't know how the politician had arranged for it to arrive at the temple before him - and frankly, he was too happy to ask too many questions. 

»Thanks for listening to me. People hardly do that here.« 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I just had to write more for those two because I wanted to know if they would end up together.  
> Seems like I am none the wiser now and have to write more :D


End file.
